His grin spread even wider when he reached out and swept his hand across the water, causing a wave-like splash to spray up around him. “Challenge accepted.”
I dived down underneath the brisk water, feeling totally rejuvenated as the lake enveloped my entire body.
Okay, so maybe swimming wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
I emerged at the surface and looked around. Drew seemed to have disappeared. “Drew?” I treaded water while turning myself at the same time. “Where are you?”
My heart began to beat faster. What if there were vampires out here? The idea that they were was highly likely because they came out to our place all the time ... so why wouldn’t they be roaming around the woods?
“Drew!” I called again more urgently. “Answer me.”
Suddenly, something grabbed my foot and yanked me under. I opened my mouth to scream, but only had time to release a yelp before I was dragged—gurgling water—below the surface of the lake.
I kicked my feet viciously, trying to break loose from the attacker’s grip. He had a firm hold on my ankles, and no matter how hard I kicked I couldn’t get free. Water forced its way down my throat and up my nose. Oh my God, I was going to die from drowning. I’m a freaking vampire hunter and I’m going to drown to death. Never saw that one coming.
Then, as suddenly as the attacker had grabbed me, they let go. I waved my arms and kicked my feet, pushing my way to the surface while calling on my fire at the same time. I broke the surface with my hands first, and let loose the streams of fire ... not caring where they went, but hoping it hit the target somehow.
My head came up out of the water next and I simultaneously gasped for air and fired another stream of flames all around me.
“Chloe! Stop!”
It was Drew. He was all right!
I sputtered, choking nasty lake water out of my mouth. “Are you all right? Drew ... someone ... they had me.” I couldn’t make anything very coherent and shot away, swimming for shore as fast as I could.
Not a minute later I hit the shallow water. My feet connected with the pebbles on the bottom of the lake and I lunged for my weapons, grabbed a forty five, and aimed it out at the water.
Drew was right behind me. “Relax, Chloe. It was me. All right, it was just me.”
I lowered my gun. “Are you insane? Seriously, why would you do something like that?”
“I was just fooling around.” He moved to put his arm around me and I jerked out of the way.
“That was wrong, Drew.”
“Chloe, you need to calm down.”
“You tried to drown me!”
Frustrated, he marched off in the direction of where he’d left his clothes. “Look at how you’re acting. You have to loosen up and stop being so serious about everything all of the time. You have become so high strung that you can’t even joke around anymore.”
I blew a raspberry at him and picked up the rest of my weapons. “Sure, like you have any room to talk, Mr. Serious. You never joke around. Oh, wait, until the vampire apocalypse started ... now you’re chock full of fun.”
He glared at me with his cool green eyes and released a noise that sounded similar to a growl. “Settle down,” he ordered.
I had no intention of settling down.
“People die, Drew! People are dying! How can I possibly set that aside to make jokes and have fun? This is all my fault and I have to do everything I can to fix it. I don’t know why you can’t understand that.”
He dropped his clothes on the ground again and marched toward me. “Chloe. You are being too hard on yourself. This ... all of the responsibility that you are putting on yourself is hardening you, and you’re only a fraction of the person you used to be.”
I slid my clothes on over my bathing suit while he spoke. “I am a Hunter and that is what I need to do. I can’t relax until we fix this problem.”
“What if we can’t fix it, Chloe?”
“Then I guess I’ll never be the same person I was.” I strapped on my holster, as well as my bow and quiver, and headed for the trail, leaving Drew behind me. The branches grabbed at my clothes as I hurried back to the truck. I just wanted to kill some vampires and try to remedy the problems I’d caused.
Back at the truck, I waited for Drew. After a few minutes, he emerged from within the trees, fully dressed and looking solemn. Suddenly I felt bad; I didn’t mean to bring him down when he was only trying to help me.
He opened the driver’s side door and slid behind the wheel without even sparing a glance at me. With a turn of the key, the truck roared to life and he shot off down the minuscule dirt road, much faster than he had gone when we came in.
“Drew, I know you want the best for me, but I just can’t force myself to feel a different way. Please ... please, bear with me through this.”
He kept his eyes on the road, still not looking at me. “Chloe, I’m always going to be there for you. You are a fighter at heart. You are moody, snarky, and throw childish fits when you don’t get your way ... and I love all of those things about you.”
Heart melting.
He continued, “I just want to help you because I’m afraid of what you are becoming. But, know this ... I will never, ever abandon you simply because you are going through a hard time emotionally. I, of all people, know what it’s like to shut myself off from the world and focus on one thing. You are the one who breathed life into me. Before you, there was only the other Hunters, training, and killing vampires. I found light in you and now I see that light slowly dimming.”
Talk about making a girl feel bad.
“Drew—”
He shook his head. “Let me finish. I just want you to try not to be so hard on yourself. All right?”
Tears stung the corners of my eyes as they tried to break free. Why was it that he always did this to me? I knew I was becoming hard, but I had to keep going with the mission. I thought he, of all people, would understand that.
In the end, all I said in response to his beautiful words was a choked, “I promise to try.”
“Good.” He nodded his head in confirmation.
~~~***~~~
We drove into the city a couple of hours before sundown and people were already bustling through the streets, trying to get their supplies before the sun went down and the vampires took over the city. It was a sad, sad sight to see. These innocent people had no idea if they would survive the night.
When the vampires first went public, it was a blood bath. A lot of people died in a horrible massacre on the city, and another city after that, and another after that ... until the entire United States was dealing with a vampire epidemic.
We’d heard from Hunters in other countries that the problem was not limited to the United States; they were also infested with insane amounts of new vampires.
After the initial murders, thousands were left dead in the streets and even more were turned. Each morning when the sun rose, people would leave their homes to go in search of a loved one who hadn’t come home the night before. With any luck, they would find who they were looking for amongst the bodies the vampires left scattered throughout the city.
One morning, the whole group and I had finished a particularly gruesome fight. We stayed in the city until the sun came up and witnessed the morning ritual. Watching people wander through the sea of bodies, looking for someone, but hoping they didn’t find them dead, was probably the most emotional thing I’d seen since the first killings of the vampire apocalypse. Also, they knew that if they didn’t find them, there was a huge chance they had been turned.
Too freaking sad.
The one problem that Dahlia seemed to be having with her plan for vampires to take over was the sheer blood lust of the newborns. They killed almost every single person they fed from. If they kept killing people, as well as turning them into vampires, there wouldn’t be any food source left for them, which would put kind of a dent in her plan for world domination.
Pulling myself back into the present,
I shoved the memories of the morning ritual and Dahlia out of my mind and concentrated on the streets.
“Let’s park here.” Drew pulled into a grocery store parking lot where there were a lot of cars, which were probably abandoned or left because the owners were killed.
When he came to a stop between a minivan and a VW Bug, he killed the engine and leaned toward me. “Wait,” he demanded.
About to pull the door handle, I paused. He reached out, taking my face in both of his hands, but he didn’t say anything more, like I’d expected him to. He simply pulled me in and placed a soft kiss on my lips.
I felt my heart skip and my stomach flutter as it always did when we kissed. The heat began in my toes and fingertips as my body responded to the stimulation of contact. When he pulled away, I reached up and wound both of my arms around his neck, pulling our bodies even closer together for another, much longer, kiss. I felt his hand work its way into my hair and his other rested on my thigh.
He broke contact first, moving away until his face was only an inch from mine and he was staring into my eyes. The green in his eyes was always so intense. When he was mad, they were icy, and when he was happy, they were twinkling. At that moment they were twinkling. “You ready to go kick some ass?” he asked.
That was my Drew! How could I resist a man who had such a way with words?
I leaned away and reached for the door handle. “You know I am. Let’s hit it.” I jumped down out of the truck and adjusted my holster because it had ridden up while I was sitting in the truck.
After I was situated, I hurried around to the front of the line of vehicles and found Drew scanning the buildings. “Do you want to go high or low today?” he inquired.
Decisions, decisions. Up high was good because we could pick them off from a distance, but on the other hand they could attack and trap us, leaving us nowhere to go. Low had its advantages and disadvantages as well. On the streets there was a lot more contact with the vampires, but we also saved a lot more people being on the ground. That thought alone pretty much made up my mind; keeping people safe is why we did what we did in the first place. “I’m not sure yet, let’s see what we find,” I told him as my gaze moved over the commotion surrounding us.
Most of the shops in the city had long since been abandoned, so what was considered gathering supplies was actually looting. During the day, the city was pretty much a free for all ... except for the human law enforcement. They weren’t on our side anymore, though; the vampires had control of them and anyone was at their mercy if they were not pledged.
At night, people ran and hid, hoping that they wouldn’t be found.
A new order was being established. Not just in our city, but the entire country ... maybe even the world.
It probably wouldn’t be long before the vampires cut the electricity to drive the humans out of hiding. Already, a vampire mayor had been appointed and a televised announcement had been broadcasted into every home and every radio station.
For a few moments I became lost in thought again as I remembered seeing my nightmares come to life. The male vampire with glowing blue eyes and dark brown hair had appeared behind a podium set up in front of city hall. He had several vampires in suits standing behind him like they were freakin’ secret service agents or something. They even had their dark sunglasses on to perfect the look.
The vampire at the podium had cleared his throat and spoke into the microphone. “Members of this community, as you surely know by now, the debate concerning the historical legends and whether vampires exist or not has finally been settled. The truth is right in front of you ... I am a vampire, and we do, indeed, exist.
“Now, onto the subject at hand. I have been chosen to represent this fine city. With that responsibility, changes must be made. These changes are being made in every state, every city, and every county all over the United States. Therefore, leaving town will do you no good, you will face the new laws wherever you go.
“At this moment, a bit of chaos is taking place, but we are working hard to establish order once again. To achieve order, the changes I spoke of before must be put into place and obeyed. The changes will be made within the next few months and years. But, to begin with, we have a few laws which are going into effect immediately.
“We will allow anyone who comes forward and pledges themselves to the Vampire Council to live. The condition being that every pledge has to willingly give blood twice a month. Each pledge will receive a tattoo signifying their loyalty to the Vampire Council. The tattoo will be placed on the right cheek. Any human who has not given their pledge to the Vampire Council is fair game to every vampire.”
The cameras panned the audience crammed into the tight space before the podium. Loud murmurs and shouts of unfairness rose from the disgruntled crowd. The new mayor held his hands up for silence, but the shouting did not cease. After waiting a few minutes for his audience to settle down, he just spoke over them, continuing on with his speech. Regardless of how pissed off they were, the people still wanted to hear what he had to say ... their lives depended on it.
“We have designated several human guards who will replace the regular police force which you have previously known. The law enforcement and laws that you once followed no longer exist. As of this moment, they are null and void. These law enforcement personnel will be present and in charge at the pledging areas. The pledging areas have currently been secured in the public libraries. If you choose to pledge, simply go to any of the libraries in the city, day or night, and you will be accepted in, allowed to pledge, and required to give your first blood donation. You will also receive your tattoo upon pledging.
“These law enforcement officers will also be in command at the blood banks where those who have pledged will go to give blood. The first donation will take place at the library, then an appointment will be made for you at one of the local blood banks. If you miss an appointment to give blood, the consequences will not be something you want to endure. So do not miss your appointment. Beginning immediately, anyone can come forward to pledge themselves. As I stated before, those who are not pledged will not be protected, so the longer you wait, the more danger you put yourself in.”
“Chloe!”
I snapped out of another memory and the world came into focus around me. I realized that Drew was beside me, staring into my eyes with concern. “Are you all right?”
I nodded and adjusted my bow again. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking about how crappy things have gotten already.”
Drew nodded that he understood. “I know what you mean. There is no going back now, society has been too traumatized. Even if we manage to win this war, it will have affected so many. Too many people have been lost already.”
It was my turn to nod that I understood. It was true, the world would never be the same as it was. “Let’s keep moving.” I shook off the memories and marched forward. Once we were up on the sidewalk, the people out in the streets began to notice us. They knew what we were; Hunters always carried a lot of weapons and walked with a purpose. The survivors moved with caution, practically running wherever they went.
Almost everyone stared at us as we passed. Most looked at us with awe; knowing that we were actively searching out the enemy put us on a level to be looked up to. “This is weird,” I whispered.
Drew didn’t respond, but I knew he was thinking the same thing. For so long, especially for him, the fact that vampire hunter’s even existed was kept secret. If the world had discovered the vampire hunters, it was only a given that the existence of vampires would have been exposed. The Hunters had worked very hard for a very, very long time to stay hidden, now ... now we were saviors in a world being taken over by demons.
After a few minutes of walking and ignoring the stares of the survivors, Drew finally said, “I wish these people would go to the training centers and learn how to protect themselves. Most will probably end up pledging simply because they have no other options.”
I nodded. “Me too, but until then
, it’s our job to try and protect them.”
The people who roamed the streets at least had some spine. The weakest and the most fearful had already pledged to the Vampire Council. The ones with the most will to survive had gone to the training centers or taken off with their families. There were also the preppers who were prepared for some kind of “end of the world” to happen, those people were in hiding, too. But these who were left, they had something in them that told them pledging was wrong, they just didn’t have the strength to actively fight against them.
I didn’t blame them, though. Vampires could kill you within seconds and no one in their right mind would want to go up against them one on one. Vampire hunters weren’t just humans who fought, we were bred from the blood of angels and demi-gods. In my case, I was half vampire, a dhampir, which made me even more powerful.
My brother, Zander, is also a dhampir, but not a true vampire hunter as far a blood and power. He’s a bad ass, though, and that goes a long way when fighting the undead.
“This looks good.” Drew paused and gestured to the bakery on our right. It was an old structure, built out of red brick. The door was newer than the rest of the place; double glass doors with a dark tint over them. Perfect for seeing out, but harder for people to see in.
The place also had a balcony on the second floor. The aging but sturdy looking balcony ran the width of the building and extended about four feet over the sidewalk where we stood.
“Yeah. This is as good a place as any.”
I followed Drew to the tinted double doors, silently slipping my gun out of its holster. Drew held his gun in one hand and cautiously reached for the door handle with the other. I stayed a few feet behind him just out of habit. It was part of how we worked, he usually took the lead and I stayed back to cover.
He pulled on the door handle gently, giving it a testing tug before he yanked it open completely. Then he held the door open and I moved forward, into the darkness of the building with my gun out in front of my, ready to shoot pretty much anything that moved.
The Arcadia Falls Chronicles: Omnibus (Books 1-6) Page 17
